Share:

If you’re experiencing loose or missing teeth, living with a jaw injury, or interested in dental implants, your dentist may recommend bone grafting. This procedure helps augment the jawbone tissue that has been damaged or lost. Increasing the available bone helps protect teeth and support dental implants, which rely on the bone to hold them in place. Here’s what you can expect when you schedule this procedure.

The Bone Grafting Process

There are many types of bone grafts, sinus lifts, ridge augmentations, socket grafts to name a few.  The chosen procedure is based on the defect that you have.  Most bone grafting can be done under local anesthesia alone or with mild sedation. The oral surgeon will carefully expose the part of the jawbone that needs the graft.  The donor material is then placed and packed into and over the defect.  Often a membrane is placed over the graft to prevent the soft tissues from growing into the graft..

bone graftingThis donor tissue may be a sample from a donor or your own taken from a stronger area of the jaw. The tissue is sometimes held in place with titanium screws. Some procedures can use alternate materials that don’t come from a human donors. All of these options are safe and will connect with the existing bone tissue over the next few months to help your body heal the gap.

Aftercare for Bone Grafting

After the procedure, the hard and soft tissues over the surgical site need to heal, and the graft needs to fuse in place. To protect the tissue, avoid touching the surgical site for the first several days.  Brush the adjacent teeth carefully. Don’t pull on your lip to expose the site because this can remove the sutures.  The less mobility of the bone graft the better the chance for success.

Avoid spitting and drinking through a straw, as these activities create suction that will pull the healing blood clot out of the site. Instead, drink slowly from a cup during meals. Eat soft foods, nothing harder than scrambled eggs, since chewing puts excessive pressure on the site. You can resume your usual diet as tolerated provided you do not chew over the grafted site.  Chewing on the grafted site will increase the chance for graft failure.

 

If you want to discuss bone grafting with an oral surgeon, turn to Lyle C. Yanagihara DDS, MS, in Honolulu, HI. Dr. Yanagihara and his team welcome patients from across Oahu, and they provide effective dental surgeries. To get more information about their bone grafting procedures, visit the website or call (808) 973-1433.

tracking